How to Get CPE Accreditation: Standards, Credits, and Review

To get CPE accreditation, your organization applies to the NASBA National Registry of CPE Sponsors, demonstrates that your courses meet the joint AICPA/NASBA Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education Programs, and passes a technical review of your materials for the delivery method you plan to offer. Initial reviews now often finish in under 20 days when the application is clean, and approval runs one year at a time with renewal fees starting at $910.¹²

Start With the Standards

Every application is measured against the Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education Programs, published jointly by the AICPA and NASBA.³ Read them before anything else. The standards govern how courses are developed, delivered, measured, and reported, and submitting an application without working knowledge of them is the fastest route to a rejection.

At a minimum, the standards require measurable learning objectives describing what a participant will be able to do after completing the program, content that is technically accurate and current, and development or review by someone with demonstrated subject-matter expertise. Attendance monitoring, participation measurement, and credit calculation rules all vary by delivery method, so the standards don’t read the same way for every applicant.

Choose Your Delivery Method

NASBA recognizes six delivery methods, and you apply separately for each one you intend to use:⁴

Group Live, meaning classroom instruction with participants and instructor in the same room.
Group Internet Based, meaning synchronous webinars and virtual classrooms with built-in attendance monitoring.⁵
QAS Self-Study, meaning independent learning with a qualified assessment: at least five exam questions per CPE credit, no true/false questions, and a 70% minimum passing score.
Blended Learning, combining group and self-study elements.
Nano Learning, ten-minute programs focused on a single learning objective, worth 0.2 credits each.³
Independent Study, self-directed learning without a qualified assessment.

Each method carries its own structural requirements. A Group Internet Based application, for example, must describe exactly how you will monitor active participation under Standard S16-03, and the demonstration program you submit must run at least 50 minutes and show those monitoring tools in operation.⁵ Picking the wrong classification or missing a method-specific rule is a frequent first-time stumble.

Classify the Field of Study Correctly

Every program must be classified into a recognized field of study, and the choice affects whether a CPA’s credits satisfy a particular state board’s renewal rules. NASBA divides fields into technical and non-technical categories. Technical fields include Accounting, Auditing, Taxes, Business Law, Economics, Finance, Information Technology, Management Services, Statistics, Specialized Knowledge, Regulatory Ethics, and governmental versions of Accounting and Auditing. Non-technical fields include Behavioral Ethics, Business Management and Organization, Communications and Marketing, Computer Software and Applications, Personal Development, Personnel/Human Resources, and Production.⁶

Watch the ethics split closely. Regulatory Ethics covers rules, laws, and professional conduct standards. Behavioral Ethics addresses decision-making, cognitive biases, and the psychological side of ethical behavior. Many states require CPAs to complete a set number of ethics hours, and some accept only Regulatory Ethics for that purpose. Classify an ethics course in the wrong bucket and your participants may find the credits don’t count toward their ethics obligation.

Assemble Your Documentation Before You Apply

Have everything ready before you open the online application. Back-and-forth with the reviewer is what slows applications down.⁷

Course outlines need a detailed syllabus, measurable learning objectives, and a timed agenda covering every segment of instruction. “Understand tax concepts” will not pass review. “Calculate the depreciation of a fixed asset using the straight-line and MACRS methods” tells a reviewer exactly what participants will be able to do.

Instructor biographies must prove subject-matter expertise through professional experience, credentials, or academic background. Include license numbers, years of relevant practice, publications, and specific areas of expertise. A sentence saying someone “has extensive experience” is not enough.

Promotional materials and course descriptions must disclose prerequisites, any advance preparation, the field of study, the program level (basic, intermediate, advanced, or overview), the delivery method, and your refund or cancellation policy.³ Missing any of these triggers a correction request.

You also need a sample certificate of completion. It must show the sponsor’s name and address, the participant’s name, the program title, the field of study, the date offered or completed, the location, the delivery method, the amount of CPE credit earned, the signature of the CEO or the individual responsible for CPE administration, the Registry sponsor identification number, and the Registry time statement.⁸ The sponsor ID and time statement won’t exist until approval, but your template needs to show where they go. Omitting a single element can delay the review.

How Credits Are Calculated

CPE credit runs on a 50-minute hour. One credit equals 50 minutes of participation in a Group Live or Group Internet Based program, so a session with 100 minutes of actual instruction (not counting breaks) earns two credits.³

Self-study is different. Credit is set either by a word-count formula or by pilot testing with actual CPAs, where the average completion time in minutes is divided by 50.⁹ A course averaging 500 minutes of completion time yields 10 credits. The method prevents sponsors from inflating credit based on how long they think a course should take.

Nano Learning uses its own scale: 0.2 credits per ten-minute unit, and units cannot be combined into a larger credit.³ Each stands alone with one learning objective.

Submit and Get Through Review

The application lives on the NASBA Registry portal. You begin with an interest form, then NASBA sends a link to the full application for your chosen delivery method.⁷ You will provide information about your organization, content development policies, administrative procedures, and program materials. For some delivery methods, you may also need to grant a reviewer access so they can experience the course directly.

Fees vary by delivery method and change periodically, so confirm the current amount on the NASBA site before submitting. An analyst then reviews your materials against the standards and sends questions through the portal or by email if anything is incomplete.

Timelines have improved sharply. Reviews that once stretched past 90 days now often finish in under 20, according to NASBA’s late 2025 figures.¹ The clock effectively resets every time you have to respond to reviewer questions or send corrected materials. Clean applications move fast; incomplete ones can still drag on for months.

If NASBA denies the application, that means the materials did not meet the standards or Registry policies, and an appeal process is available.¹⁰³¹¹

Keeping the Accreditation

Approval is annual, and renewal fees are tiered by the total number of distinct programs you offer across Group Live, Group Internet Based, QAS Self-Study, and Blended Learning:²

1–15 programs: $910
16–25 programs: $1,128
26–50 programs: $1,820
51–100 programs: $2,907
101–250 programs: $3,588
251–500 programs: $4,342
501–1,000 programs: $4,940
1,001 or more programs: $5,980

If Nano Learning is your only approved method, renewal is a flat $910. If you hold Nano Learning alongside other methods, add a $572 supplemental fee on top of the tiered amount.²

Recordkeeping is where approval is kept or lost. Sponsors must retain participation logs, dates and locations, instructor credentials (including license numbers and license status for CPAs, tax attorneys, and enrolled agents), credits earned by each participant, program evaluation results, and the course development materials showing qualified authorship and review.¹² Keep these records at least five years.³

NASBA runs random compliance audits on existing sponsors to verify the information in the most recent renewal self-certification.¹³ Selection does not imply suspicion; it is a quality-assurance measure. If you can’t produce the required records when asked, the audit becomes a serious problem, and sponsors who fail to maintain compliance can be removed from the Registry.

Report major organizational changes to the Registry within 30 days. This covers a change in your main contact, a change in ownership, or a merger or acquisition. Registry membership does not transfer automatically to a new owner, so missing an ownership-change notice can cost you sponsor status outright.¹⁴

NASBA Approval Is Not State Approval

Registry listing is widely accepted but does not guarantee automatic approval in every state. Individual state boards of accountancy can impose additional requirements for CPE acceptance, require separate state-level registration, limit certain delivery methods, or cap credit hours for particular formats.¹⁵ If your participants are concentrated in specific states, check those rules before you design the program. A course that meets every NASBA standard can still fail a state’s rules if, for instance, the state does not accept Nano Learning or requires ethics content to be delivered only in Group Live or Group Internet Based format.

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NASBA Registry. Application Review Times Improve Significantly
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NASBA Registry. Annual Renewal
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NASBA Registry. The Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE)
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NASBA Registry. QAS Self Study Additional Delivery Method (ADM)
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NASBA Registry. Group Internet Based
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NASBA. Fields of Study That Qualify for Continuing Professional Education
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NASBA. What Does It Take to Become a CPE Sponsor?
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NASBA Registry. What Elements Are Required to Be Included on the Certificate of Completion
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AICPA & CIMA. Important Notice Regarding CPE Credit
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NASBA Registry. What Sponsors Need to Know – Application Denied
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NASBA Registry. Becoming a Sponsor
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NASBA Registry. CPE Provider Responsibilities – Attendance Monitoring and Record Keeping
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NASBA Registry. What Do I Do Now That I Have Been Selected for a Random Compliance Audit?
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NASBA Registry. How Do I Let the National Registry Know About These Changes?
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NASBA. The Registrys Role in CPE Acceptance by Boards